”I keep destroying his life and he keeps forgiving me,“ Covino says of his character’s relationship to his best friend
“The Climb,” written by and starring Michael Covino and Kyle Marvin and directed by Covino, centers on Kyle and Mike, best friends who share a close bond — until Mike sleeps with Kyle’s fiancée. From there the film follows their tumultuous but enduring relationship over decades of laughter, heartbreak and rage.
Real-life best friends Michael Covino and Kyle Marvin insist that “The Climb,” the feature they wrote and star in about best friends whose relationship is challenged when one sleeps with the other’s fiancée, is definitely not based on a true story.
dropped by TheWrap’s studios at the Toronto Film Festival to discuss the inspiration for their film, and explained that “The Climb” is definitely not based a true story — despite some jokes to the contrary from Covino. Watch the video above.
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“It’s autobiographical. The movie’s pretty much just a true story,” Covino joked before clarifying: “No, it’s not, at all. I have never slept with Kyle’s wife.”
Marvin added, “”I bet he finally admitted it, I’ve been wondering.”
In fact, the film spun out of the premise of a short film that they made that played in Sundance in 2018. “What we sort of ended up realizing is that we loved the characters we had established there, and we wanted to expand the world,” said Covino, who also directed the project. “So we… came up with this crazy idea for the feature that would follow these characters over like 12 or 13 years, as we sort of move forward in time and they keep doing these things to each other. I keep destroying his life and he keeps forgiving me.”
“The Climb” premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year where it won the Jury’s “Coup de Coeur” Award and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics.
Watch the full video with Covino and Marvin above.
Umberto Gonzalez
Umberto has been covering the fanboy beat & breaking scoops for 20 years with numerous Hollywood trade, newspaper, & magazine mentions to his credit. Umberto has been profiled in such publications as The Washington Post, Variety and Grantland.